Tuesday, March 13, 2007

ZEW economic expectations index, which reveals the confidence of firms in the economic situation in six-month prospect, rose to 5.8 points in March, compared with 2.9 points in February. The analysts expected the index to decrease to 2.8 points.

The increase of ZEW economic expectations index reveals that German economy continues to recover, though the index is still low, compared with its historic maximum 33.2.

German businessmen admit that new orders rose despite increase of value-added tax. The consumer confidence stabilized due to positive news from labor market. On the other hand, German economy is subject to negative impact of foreign orders decrease and oil prices rise.

The assessment of current situation dropped in March to 69.2 points, from 70.6 points in February. The assessment of current situation for the euro area rose by 0.2 points, to 66.9.